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Education
Includes issues such as educational choice, sex education, home schooling, mandatory preschool, standards and testing and parental control. Education issues addressed by IFI include:
Rewrite of Illinois Sex Education Laws
Illinois Education Tax Credits
Political Activities of IEA/NEA
Expansion of Illinois Charter Schools
Legislative Threats to Illinois Abstinence Education
Teacher Re-Certification Reform
Teachers Union Endorsement of Homosexuality
Universal Illinois Preschool Proposals
Evolution / Creation and Illinois Biology Instruction
Return to Daily Pledge in Illinois High Schools
High Salaries and the State Board of Education
Illinois Consolidations and Threat to Local Control
Bradley Issues an Apology to Hobby Lobby over V. Monologues
Illinois' Bradley University has apologized to a Peoria Hobby Lobby store for a student error that implied that the store had sponsored the vulgar play The Vagina Monologues.
Hobby Lobby complained to Bradley University that "but for a recent article in the Illinois Family Institute [website, the listing of Hobby Lobby’s name as a sponsor in the program] may have gone unnoticed. Nonetheless, it did not go unnoticed and will certainly bring unwanted scrutiny upon our good name."
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The corruption of our youth: The liberal agenda targeting school children
Earlier this month, students at Carrier Mills-Stonefort Elementary School were encouraged to participate in activities designed to promote school spirit. However, during "Spirit Week," parents and community leaders were angered to learn that officials at the school not just sanctioned, but also conceived "opposite sex" dress-up day, in which the school encouraged boys and girls to come to school attired as the other gender.
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NEA Honors Leading Homosexual Activist
The National Education Association (NEA) is once again working to mainstream homosexuality in the nation's public schools, this time by presenting the country’s leading “gay-schools” activist with a "human rights" award. The homosexual activist is Kevin Jennings of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
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Mental Health Update: Therapeutic Nanny State?
The Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003, and the plan to mandate mental health screening for pregnant women and all children (birth to 18), is moving forward, and may be implemented here in the very near future. The Illinois plan is called the "Children’s Mental Health Partnership." This "Partnership" is an extraordinarily bold attempt to supplant and circumvent parental authority. US Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) has been an outspoken critic of this legislation, saying:
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More Tax and Spend for Failing Schools:
House Bill 750, introduced by Senator James Meeks (D-Chicago), would create the "School District Property Tax Relief Fund," which would require $2.4 billion to be appropriated in this special fund created in the State Treasury in the first year after enactment, and will increase each year.
This will lead to the increase of income tax rates for individuals from 3% to 5% , will increase the income tax rate for corporations from 4.8% to 8%, and will include retirement income in taxable income for individuals with an adjusted gross income over $75,000.
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So. IL Grade School Holds Cross-Dressing Day; Boys Arrive in Mini-Skirts!
IFI received a troubling report yesterday of a grade (and middle) school in Carrier Mills that held an “Opposite Sex” Day in which students were encouraged to come to schools dressed as members of the opposite sex. At least one outraged mother pulled her children out of Carrier Mills-Stonefort Elementary School (kindergarten through 8th grade) after being informed about the cross-dressing day last Friday. Carrier Mills is about 45 minutes east of Carbondale.
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New Bill Would Raise Taxes & Spending for Failing Schools
House Bill 750, introduced by Senator James Meeks (D-Chicago), would create the "School District Property Tax Relief Fund," which would require $2.4 billion to be appropriated in this special fund created in the State Treasury in the first year after enactment, and will increase each year....
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Illinois Passes Out Flavored Condoms, and Your're Paying For It!
[WARNING: EXPLICIT SEXUAL DESCRIPTIONS] There was a humdinger of a headline in yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times: "State giving away flavored condoms." The Sun-Times reports:
"Since January, the [Illinois] Department of Public Health has spent $115,000 in funds provided by the Bush administration on condoms, including 360,000 of them--at a nickel a pop--in orange, lemon, grape and cherry flavors.
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Home education: A choice many families are embracing
Home education is an opportunity to give a child an education that goes beyond the boundaries of academics.
I asked some of my peers why they homeschool their children. The reasons for starting the journey varied, yet the reasons for continuing all had a familiar ring. We want our children to be the best at whom they are as individuals; to find what they love and to be excited about learning. We want a close relationship with them and to be grounded in the Lord so that when the winds and waves of life blow hard against them, they will be able to stand.
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April 5th - School Board Elections - it's time to get involved
There are big elections coming up April 5, and if you're not aware of them, you should be. They can make the difference in the lives of the children in your neighborhood, the very future of your neighborhood, and your property taxes.
The elections are coming up.
Do you know what's happening in your area's schools?
If not, it's time to get involved...
Click HERE to read the entire Sun-Times article.
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An A-Maze-ing Approach To Math
I am not a mathematics teacher, but I have a degree in mathematics and an intense interest in how the subject is taught. When I retire, I would like to teach math, which is why I started tutoring high school students in my spare time three years ago. My first student was a 9th grader having difficulty with geometry. He stated his problem succinctly: “I don’t know how to do proofs.” Confronted with what I thought could be a common problem, I was still unaware that what I was really seeing was a national crisis in mathematics education...
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SB 409 - Taxpayers and Schools Lose Again, as Springfield Spends
Senate Bill 409, which would expand the state's control over your children for two more years, is currently being considered by the House Elementary & Secondary Education Committee. This bill may be called for a vote next week. Your calls are needed to stop this harmful legislation.
Debbie Warning of Minooka, Illinois points out in an editorial, that this bill -- if passed -- will cost taxpayers more than $40 million dollars -- money the state certainly does not have...
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Senate Bill 409: Mandatory Kindergarten- Unnecessary, Intrusive, & Expensive
Once again, we want to call your attention a bad piece of legislation. Senate Bill 409, which would expand the state's control over your children for two more years, is currently being considered by the House Elementary & Secondary Education Committee. This bill is scheduled to be called for a vote Wednesday, May 18th. Please call your state representative and ask him/her to please vote against this bill.
The Family Taxpayers Network has published a White Sheet on this bill, pointing out that this bill is unnecessary, intrusive and expensive...
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CWA of Illinois Calls Upon Gov. Blagojevich to Support Parental Consent on Children's Mental Health Screening Plan
The Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership’s final screening plan will be submitted to the Governor’s office on June 30, 2005. This plan calls for the screening of all children ages 0-18, as well as pregnant women, to determine their mental health--leading to possible diagnosis and treatment including psychotropic drugs. Illinois is the pilot state in this dubious "mental health" project.
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Illinois Is 'Testing Ground' for Mental Health Plan Targeting Schoolchildren
Did you know that Illinois schools are the nation's "testing ground" for mental health screening? IFI writer Rhonda Robinson examines what is behind the new push, which is fraught with dangers for children and parents. You cannot afford NOT to be aware of the agenda that federal bureaucrats and pharmaceutical lobbies have for Illinois schools.
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Mental Health: teen screening and parental consent
Mental health screening of teenagers is headed for Illinois, and you'd better be prepared for the survey questions that your teenage child will be asked to answer, in school. That includes leading questions that could plant the idea of suicide in the minds of insecure students who might then be more likely to view it as a legitimate option.
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SBC Resolution on Homosexuality in Public Schools
As you may have heard, a resolution has been introduced to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) calling on Southern Baptist churches to check into what is going on in their local school districts. This resolution is specifically geared towards encouraging churches to help root out homosexual activism at the local school level.
The Illinois Family Institute strongly believes that this is a step in the right direction to help counter the activities of homosexual activists in the public school system. The collaboration between school districts and homosexual activists is becoming increasingly widespread and poses a serious danger to our children and our culture and profamily groups across the nation (Focus on the Family, American Family Association and Concerned Women for America) are encouraged that the SBC may take up this issue in the form of a resolution and that it would be a great service not only to Southern Baptists but to all families, etc.
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Polls Show a Mixed Bag on Evolution vs. Creationism
Regardless of how questions are posed, polls consistently find that 40 percent to nearly 50 percent of the public accepts a biblical creationist account of life's origins, while slightly more accept the idea of evolution.
But Pew Research Center finds that although neither evolution nor creationism is accepted by a sizable majority, upwards of two-thirds of the public over the past 20 years has supported teaching both accounts of the origins of life. Even among proponents of natural selection, a majority wants students to be exposed to creationism. And a large minority of Americans -- 40 percent in both the Gallup and Pew polls -- says that creationism should be taught instead of evolution.
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Darwin's Second Rate Hypothesis
The fossil record does not support Darwin’s theory at all. For the first 3 billion years, most living things were one celled creatures, but the Cambrian explosion gave rise to most of the animal phyla that we know today in a mere 3-5 million years. Instead of one species that evolved gradually into families, then orders, then classes, then phyla over millions of years, the explosion of animal phyla in the Cambrian period turned Darwin’s tree of life upside down.
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The Danger That Lies Within...Our Education
I watched the news channels in utter disbelief that late summer morning. Never before had I felt such complete helplessness, as my security and sense of safety rolled away inside those billows of black smoke--and I learned the definition of terrorist.
In the days that followed, it was hard to keep back the tears of pride as the flags went up on every pillar and post. When I see a soldier in uniform, I can't help but remember my young husband standing so many years ago, ready to fight for me and you. I am thankful we live in a country, unlike so many others in the world, where we don't fear our military.
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Looking for Autism in Buggies, Buses and Homeschools
What does Lancaster County, Pa., have in common with Cook County, Illinois.? They both have thousands of children who have never been vaccinated, and they don't have autism.
Homefirst Health Services, an obstetric and pediatric practice in the metropolitan Chicago area that has cared for an estimated 35,000 children over the years, claims it has never seen a single case of autism in a child it has delivered and whose parents have opted out of vaccinations.
The autism rate is lower in Illinois public schools than the national average, with 38 per 10,000 students. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives a national rate of 60 per 10,000. The most quoted statistic is 1 in 166 children.
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"Responsible sex education" is irresponsible!
Have you seen the new television ad suggesting that "comprehensive" sex education is responsible sex education? Encouraging teens to have casual sex may be "comprehensive", but it is certainly not responsible. "Comprehensive, medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex education" may sound appealing, but the meaning of this marketing slogan is hidden from the public.
The content and goals of sex education as envisioned by Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area and the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health are entirely different than what most parents would expect or want.
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Tug-of-war over a sexual divide
In our Brittney Spears world, where innocence wrapped in seduction is sold as "sexy" and where sexuality lines have been all but erased, we shouldn't be shocked to hear high school students were used by educators and Planned Parenthood to lobby for "sexuality" education.
If they really wanted to give their legislators a clear picture of just what they were lobbying for, the teens should have brought along their little brothers and sisters. After all, the "comprehensive, sexuality education" the teens were begging legislators for begins in kindergarten; at age 5.
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Nothing to hide--but ignorance
What would you do if a police officer came to your door and said that he had a report that your teenager is an avid pot smoker?
"I don't have anything against you folks raising a couple of teenagers; as long as you keep it legal. I would like to see the boy's room-- if you don't mind."
Confident that you have absolutely nothing to hide; would you let him in?
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Give me your poor, your tired---your toddlers
The push for education reform is now targeting children so young they still hug their mother's knee at the sight of a stranger.
The race for the governor's seat is turning into a race for our youngest children under the banner of Universal Preschool. Three other states offer preschool to 4-year-olds, but Governor Rod Blagojevich is not to be outdone. He is proposing every 3-year-old and 4-year-old attend state-funded preschool.
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Government Sponsored Nannies
James Dobson once said, "Give me an army of two-year olds--and I could conquer the world." While he was no doubt referring to the boundless energy most adults would like to bottle and sell, William Wallace had a more profound insight, not only about children, but those who raise them when he said, "The hand that rocks the cradle, is the hand that rules the world."
Although I don't believe Governor Rod Blagojevich has his sites on ruling the world, he has certainly donned the apron strings of a government nanny.
There is a frightening mentality that is creeping into our social conscience, one that completely disregards the role of a mother in the life of her child. One study revealed that children who spend more than 30 hours in daycare, while getting good grades and learning their abc's, also got high marks in "cruelty," "explosive behavior," and "demands a lot of attention."
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Single-Gender Public Schools Proliferating
Experts say separating boys and girls allows schools to play to their differences.
A single-gender public school could increase your child's learning potential and self-esteem, while decreasing distractions - but that doesn't impress feminist groups calling it a return to "segregation."
Eight years ago there were only four public schools following the single-gender model. Today there are more than 220. Dr. Leonard Sax, founder of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, said studies show that when boys and girls are separated, they perform better.
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Public Warned About NEA Measure Promoting 'Diversity' of Marriage Alternatives
Pro-Family Groups Blast Teachers Union's Support for Immoral Lifestyles
A conservative activist is concerned over a recent proposal to amend the National Education Association's so-called "diversity" policy. She feels the proposal advocates same-sex "marriage" and polygamy and promotes the idea that these and other non-traditional sexual unions should be regarded as equivalent to traditional, one-man, one-woman marriage.
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Teachers Union Votes to Back 'Legally Recognized' Gay Marriage
Despite intense pressure from pro-family groups, the National Education Association (NEA) voted this week amend its resolutions to include support for same-sex marriage.
Added to the NEA's resolution about discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identification is a phrase expressing support for "the legal rights and obligations of the partners in a legally recognized domestic partnership, civil union, or marriage," including adoption.
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Congress Considers National School-Choice Program
Scholarships would offer hope for some students in failing schools.
A bill to help underprivileged students get out of failing schools and go to the schools of their parents' choice was introduced Tuesday.
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Is it Freedom to Read or the Usual Mischief for Banned Books Week?
After much liberal media attention last May, the discussion of obscene and unsuitable reading for Northwest Suburban High School District 214 students is once again taking the spotlight.
All in the spirit of protesting the idea of "banned" or "censored" reading materials for children, and celebrated in time for the American Library Association's "Banned Books Week," September 23 - 30, City Lit Theater, a Chicago company, will present a series of dramatic readings from the nine challenged texts.
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NEA Challenges Abstinence-Education Programs
Three groups are targeted.
The National Education Association (NEA) and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) are using the back-to-school season to bully three abstinence-education programs.
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Colleges Seeking Homeschoolers
Academic excellence is opening doors.
With an estimated 2 million homeschoolers in the U.S., news reports say some colleges are seeking them out because of their academic excellence.
Barmak Nassirian, deputy director with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said it has taken about a decade for home-schoolers and colleges to get to know each other better.
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Family Advocate Wants Children's Book on Same-Sex-Parent Penguins Put on Ice
An Illinois pro-family group is protesting an elementary school's decision not to restrict students' access to a picture book in the school library, a story about two male penguins who "adopt" a baby penguin as their own.
Shiloh Elementary School in metro East St. Louis, Illinois, is embroiled in a controversy over the book titled And Tango Makes Three (Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, 2005). The picture book is, according to School Library Journal, "based on a true story" and tells of two male penguins living in a zoo who share a nest and "want to become parents."
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A New Trend in Legislating Morality
"One less, one less," each girl, one-by-one steps forward to confidently proclaim that she will be one less statistic, one less family to be devastated by cervical cancer. As Merck rolls out its advertising campaign for the new vaccine Gardasil, are they being honest about the disease? Do these young women represent one less woman to be struck by cervical cancer, or one more young girl beguiled into believing that promiscuity has no price tag.
In a press release State Representative Naomi D. Jakobsson (D-Champaign) states, "Cervical cancer is a real threat that women face ... and it is incumbent upon the state to ensure those who are most at risk have access to the vaccine."
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CWA: School Tells Kids to Hide Pro-'Gay' Propaganda From Parents
In a shocking and brazen act of governmental abuse of parental rights, Deerfield High School (DHS) in Deerfield, Illinois, has required fourteen-year-old freshmen to attend a "Straight Gay Alliance Network" (GSA) panel discussion led by "gay" and "lesbian" upperclassmen during a "freshman advisory" class which secretively featured inappropriate discussions of a sexual nature in promotion of high-risk homosexual behaviors.
Not only has DHS required that its young and impressionable freshmen be exposed to radical homosexual propaganda, the school has further required that students sign a "confidentiality agreement" promising not to tell anyone – including their own parents – about the discussion.
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Deerfield H.S. Students Required to Attend "Gay" Indoctrination Panel
In the past, the word tolerance had a completely different meaning than it does today. In our modern culture, tolerance means the acceptance of all kinds of behavior. In the effort to fight so-called "intolerance," public schools have taken it upon themselves to re-educate America's children regarding social and religious issues. Such seems to be the case in Deerfield, Illinois.
Deerfield High School (DHS) District 113 is currently conducting a program where freshman students are required to attend a Gay-Straight Alliance Network panel discussion led by "gay" and "lesbian" upper classmen.
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ADF Attorneys File Lawsuit Against Naperville School District's Censorship of Student's T-Shirt
School official crosses out message on student's T-shirt worn in response to school's allowance of event promoting homosexual behavior
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of a student whose T-shirt expressing opposition to homosexual behavior was censored by school officials who allowed other students to wear T-shirts in support of homosexual behavior on the previous day.
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Study Wrongly Claims Abstinence-Only Education is Ineffective
A study by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.. was recently released week claiming that federally-funded abstinence-only programs are ineffective. The study focused on four abstinence-only elementary and middle school programs. Researchers found that participants in the programs had sex for the first time at the same age as those who did not participate.
What the researchers and the media did not mention is that the four programs represent less than one percent of the roughly 700 abstinence programs that receive federal funding.
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Parents Prefer Abstinence Education 2 to 1
Zogby Survey Shows Dramatic Shift in Attitudes Once Parents Understand Differences Between Abstinence and Comprehensive Sex Education.
The National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) just released a new survey from Zogby International showing that when parents become aware of what abstinence education vs. comprehensive sex education actually teaches, support for abstinence programs jumps from 40 percent to 60 percent, while support for comprehensive programs drops from 50 percent to 30 percent.
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Project Reality Responds to Attack on Abstinence Education
Biased Condoms First Organizations Attack Effective Abstinence Programs
Project Reality will continue to stand up for the youth of Illinois despite the recurring efforts of anti-abstinence organizations. The Illinois Campaign for Responsible Sex Education, an initiative started by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health Education (ICAH) and Planned Parenthood (PP), well-known opponents of abstinence education, is trying yet again to misrepresent and de-fund successful abstinence education programs.
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House Subcommittee Increases Abstinence Funding
Compromise saves key program, but boosts Planned Parenthood role.
In a about-face, a Democratic-led House committee voted Thursday (June 7, 2007) to increase funding for a key abstinence-education program.
The Community Based Abstinence Education program (CBAE) is set to receive $141 million for fiscal year 2008. That's more than President Bush requested ($137 million) and more than in FY 2007 ($109 million).
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Comprehensive Sex Education Gets Failing Grade
Two-year government study shows most programs contain medical inaccuracies, emphasize contraception.
A government report on the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education shows the most popular programs mention condoms and contraception nearly seven times more often than abstinence, have little effect on sexual activity or use of contraception, and contain medical inaccuracies.
In 2005, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the Department of Health and Human Services was tasked by Republican Sens. Rick Santorum and Tom Coburn to review and evaluate comprehensive sex education programs supported by federal dollars.
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Report Shows Lower Teen-Sex & Pregnancy Rates
Decline began with the introduction of abstinence education.
Teen-sex and pregnancy rates are down, according to a National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) report released recently. Experts say parents should take a closer look at the data to determine what the statistics show and how to keep kids healthy.
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Public Schools -- Pagan Religion Indoctrination Centers
Many public schools have become pagan religion indoctrination centers. These schools now teach children anti-Judeo-Christian beliefs and pagan religions, and try to mold children's minds through the latest techniques in behavioral psychology.
Here are two examples of how schools now use spirit religions as brainwashing techniques in classrooms across America, from Berit Kjos's book, "Brave New Schools:" "Come to the medicine wheel!" the teacher's cheery voice beckoned the Iowa fourth graders to a fun Native American ritual. "And wear your medicine bags."
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More Inappropriate Material for Oak Lawn Children
Congratulations to Karen Lukes and her son for exposing how inappropriate material is being pushed on children and how propaganda is being used to hide this from the public. Instead of mutely accepting the public school's recommendation of a pervasively vulgar book for her son's summer reading, she spoke out that something was obviously wrong.
For this she was vilified by the school's administration, the media's claims of her "banning" books, and a letter to the editor by someone purposefully hiding her affiliation with the public school system. Even the book's author joined in on the unreasonable assaults, but, in fairness, I believe this was only due to her being misled by the existing propaganda at that time.
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V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N for the N-E-A
According to Expedia.com 2006 survey data, the average American employee gets 14 days of vacation annually, and usually only uses 10 of those. In contrast, human resources firm Hewitt Associates reports that Europeans average around four weeks of vacation per year. Hewitt Associates told Vault, an internet-based career-information provider, that Denmark employees receive the most vacation in Europe, with an average 31 days per year, while Switzerland came in on the low end with an average 20 days vacation annually. Vault reports that because Americans receive vacation based on seniority, it can take American employees 15 years or more to earn four weeks of vacation, unless you're a teacher, of course.
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Illinois School Guilty of Educational Malpractice
An Illinois School District is defending its decision to assign summer reading to 12- and 13-year-olds that is replete with harsh profanity and references to teen sex (even teen sex with adults). Prairie Junior High School's required summer reading list for rising 8th graders gave children six books from which to choose. Parents complained that three of the six books contain adult content which is highly age-inappropriate. Those complaints, however, fell on deaf ears. At a recent school board meeting, school board members said they intend to continue assigning the books.
One of the books, "Fat Kid Rules the World", by K. L. Going, has 110 pages containing the F-word and other profanities, and multiple crude sexual references. Yet the school did not warn children - or their parents - about the adult content within the assigned reading. (For more detail, see Concerned Women for America (CWA) Policy Director for Cultural Issues Matt Barber's recent column at www.cwfa.org)
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Latest Public School Outrage – RIGHT HERE IN ILLINOIS!
The following issue sounds too bizarre to be true. But it is yet another example of how many school administrators and officials have lost all respect for the parents and community members who pay their salaries.
Michael Brumbaugh, a dean at a Chicago suburban junior high school in Addison, Illinois -- Indian Trail Junior High School -- is accused of unauthorized entry into a student's home, while the student's mother was in the shower!
Not surprisingly, the family has filed a lawsuit against the school district.
The whole situation began when 12-year-old Tyler D'Alessandro discovered he had left his knife in his backpack after he had accompanied his dad to work over the weekend, using the knife to break apart boxes and to separate his LEGO pieces!
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Buffalo Grove HS Doesn't Want "God Bless America" at Homecoming
Atheism and Ignorance has America's Faith-based Heritage on the run.
Here we go again: A fourteen-year-old freshman girl at Buffalo Grove High School successfully had the song "God Bless America" removed from this year's Homecoming festivities while school officials did nothing.
It just so happens that this freshman is the daughter of atheist activist Rob Sherman, article in the Daily Herald, readers are expected to believe this connection is inconsequential. This kind of hostility to America's Judeo-Christian heritage is now commonplace. In many cases, school boards cave in to unreasonable demands by one student or parent because they fear litigation from groups like the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
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In Defense of Homeschooling
Did you ever wonder why public schools haven't tried to reach out to homeschoolers? After all, you would think they would wonder why 1.7 million children taught at a kitchen table are consistently out-performing their students at one-tenth of the cost.
A glimpse of the explanation as to why they haven't, and the attitude which keeps a floundering system in place, can be found in a recent opinion piece in a small downstate paper, The Atwood Herald. The author, Ida May, proudly touts her pedigree as a certified teacher with four decades of experience, and her listing in the Who's Who in American Education, as her credentials of authority on the matter. One would think that a teacher of that caliber would at least do her homework before pulling out her red pen to write off home schooling as inferior and home schooling parents as lazy.
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District 126 School Board Should Take Responsibility for Book Choice
I thank Jerry Mulvihill, School District 126 School Board President, for his article in the Daily Southtown Sept. 7. He clearly spells out what he believes is the best role for the school board:"District 126 accepts the responsibility of providing parents with timely, accurate information for reading titles in the effort to allow parents to make the best possible choices for their children. ... The main principle of our district's policy is that parents have the capacity to decide against having their child reading any book they feel is not appropriate. How more 'local' can control be than parents having the power to make decisions in the interest of their own child's education?"
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Pull the Plug on the Public School Monster
The Chicago Tribune did everything possible to spin the figures on Illinois standardized testing scores this week, but they finally did get to the point, after doing all they could to avoid it: a meager 30 percent of Illinois public school system's kids are faring well academically.
Finally, in the fourth paragraph, we find the truth tucked in...Despite the progress, pupils in Illinois, and nationwide, still struggle with the tough national exam. On average, about 30 percent of pupils in Illinois-and the U.S.-showed proficiency on the tests.
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Book Banning Myths
For the past 25 years, the radically liberal ALA (American Library Association) has engaged in a mis-information campaign under the guise of "Banned Books Week," which supposedly celebrates the "Freedom to Read."
What makes the ALA campagin misleading is their unwarranted focus on "censorship" -- something that really doesn't exist in America. Think about it, censorship of a book (or banning), would make the book virtually unavailable. But all the books on the ALA's list of most frequently challenged in 2006 are available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.
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The Seven Deadly Sins Of Public Education
Why Johnny Can't Read and why Johnny doesn't have to read
America is rapidly becoming George Orwell's fictional totalitarian state, Oceania. That's because many Americans have accepted their surreal role as proles. Proles [short for proletarians] are that class of citizens who are willing to let someone else do their thinking for them, so long as that someone else provides for their basic needs and temporal desires. Like wandering sheep, proles are the willingly ignorant, the dumb on purpose – the stupid.
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Illinois 'Moment of Silence' -- Putting Public School Prayer Back in Place
What Students, Parents & Teachers can learn from the Illinois "Moment of Silence" Law
The Illinois House of Representatives recently passed a law requiring public schools to observe a brief period of time "for silent prayer or for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day." Andy Norman of Mauck & Baker law firm in Chicago is a Christian Legal Society member who concentrates his practice in issues of religious freedom. As other states look into passing similar measures, Norman has put together a list of things that every student, parent and teacher needs to know about his or her rights and how the "moment of silence" law might affect them.
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Sexually Explicit Book Banned for Hardened Criminals -- But Promoted to 10-Year-Olds
A sex education book endorsed by Planned Parenthood, called "It's Perfectly Normal," has been banned for adult prisoners' viewing but is being freely handed to young children.
The book iw written by Robie Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley, and has been in circulation since 1996 -- selling over a million copies. The book's target audience is 10-year-old children but the book has been published for children aged eight to thirteen.
New attention has been drawn to it because a Washington State Prison recently rejected a letter that included censored images from the book, contending that they were "sexually explicit" and "obscene."
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IFI Update: Birth Control Issue at Maine South H.S.
Concerned parents, community members, and many others from around the area attended a District 207 school board meeting in Park Ridge to share their thoughts about birth control methods being taught at Maine South High School.
Listen for yourself! First Speaker (**CAUTION:Graphic Language**) Second Speaker
Approximately 90 percent of the 100+ people in the room were in support of the parents who are challenging the school's decision to continue teaching birth control to freshman biology students. The parents are asking for the unit to be removed and for the school district to begin an evaluation process of all sex education curricula.
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A Silent Disruption
A broad coalition of individuals and organizations is urging parents to oppose the Day of Silence (DOS), a political action sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), because it politicizes the classroom for ideological purposes.
The explicit purpose of DOS is to encourage sympathy and support for students involved in homosexual behavior and cross-dressing whose voices have been allegedly silenced by the disapproval of society. The implicit purpose is to undermine the belief that homosexuality is immoral. Parents should no longer passively countenance the political usurpation of public school classrooms through student silence.
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When Your Alma Mater Loses Direction
It seems to be an irritating common occurrence nowadays to get an invitation from your high school or college alma mater, only to find out that its faculty are honoring individuals or sponsoring events which represent values and principles in complete contradiction to the solid Christian truths you once were taught in days gone by.
I graduated from Notre Dame High School for Girls on the northwest side of Chicago. I have very fond memories of my four years at this girls-only school and of the excellent education and rich spiritual environment it afforded children of families in middle or lower income brackets. The student body in the l950's was mostly composed of Catholic Caucasian girls.
With that in mind, I was more than stunned to receive an invitation to Notre Dame's largest fundraising event, the Fourth Annual "Celebration of Light 2008" on May 12th, honoring two alumnae whose political backgrounds totally contradict the high ideals and traditions I once had associated with a Catholic identity.
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Censorship and Public Schools
What is really being censored?
I recently attended a town hall meeting during which an impassioned public debate ensued regarding the very controversial decision of our public high school superintendent and school board to permit the exceedingly obscene, pro-homosexual play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes to be taught in some senior English classes.
During this debate, the issue of censorship was brought up several times, following which I made the point that if the community were genuinely concerned about censorship, they would be in high dudgeon about the pervasive censorship of conservative ideas and scholarship on the topic of homosexuality. I pointed out that in our school, students cannot make it through freshman year without being exposed to liberal views on sexual orientation, and yet they make it through all four years without ever being exposed to conservative scholarship on this topic.
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"Day of Silence" Scam Places Children at Risk
Can you imagine officials at a middle school, junior high or high school setting aside a day to promote "tolerance" for heavy smoking and drinking among children? How about a day where teachers encourage kids to "embrace who they are," pick up that crack pipe and give it a stiff toke?
Neither can I. The public would go ballistic, and for good reason.
But that hasn't stopped officials in thousands of schools across the country from promoting other politically correct and socially "in-vogue" behaviors that - both statistically and manifestly - are every bit as dangerous as the aforementioned "frowned-upon" behaviors.
That's exactly what the homosexual activist "Day of Silence" is all about - advancing, through clever, feel-good propaganda, full acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle among children.
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Homosexual "Day of Silence" Scheduled for Friday, April 25th
As we've been alerting you in recent emails, the annual "Day of Silence" (DOS) will be taking place nationally this Friday, on April 25th (some schools will hold DOS activities on other days).
This annual event is sponsored by the radical pro-homosexual Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), and is intended to highlight perceived or real discrimination allegedly suffered by homosexuals. Participating students remain silent for the day as an act of protest.
In addition to being silent, the participating students and teachers hand out cards that describe the harassment, discrimination and prejudice that homosexual, bisexual and transgender people supposedly face every day.
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Introducing Laurie Higgins -- Director of IFI's New DSA
I would like to express my deep sense of thankfulness to IFI, its Board of Directors, and all IFI supporters for this opportunity to work full-time in the service of preserving and protecting the mission and legitimacy of public education. I want to help restore to public schools a respect for essential Judeo-Christian values, beliefs, and principles upon which healthy children and healthy societies depend.
During the past decade of employment in a prestigious North Suburban public high school, I witnessed firsthand the abandonment of any pretense of neutrality or academic objectivity on a number of issues, chief among them the issue of sexuality.
Activists show little to no regard for academic freedom, academic integrity, intellectual diversity, respect for diverse faith traditions, or a proper understanding of their roles as public servants, particularly when those principles conflict with their desire to promote biased, unproven theories on homosexuality, gender identity disorder (i.e. "transgenderism"), heterosexuality, and gender. They believe that the use of public money and public education to advance their ends is justified; and they believe that the ends of promoting cultural change in the direction of their beliefs and values justifies pervasive censorship of conservative scholarship on these and other issues.
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Homosexual High School
Since last Wednesday when I was asked by a gracious, bright, and articulate reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Azam Ahmed, to comment on the proposed high school intended to offer a welcoming place for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and sexually questioning students," I have spent some time ruminating on this troubling proposal.
There are myriad problems with this idea. First, as I explained to Mr. Ahmed, asking the Chicago Public School Board for such a high school is asking the Board to take a position on the nature and morality of homosexuality, both of which are questions that stand far outside the purview of public educators.
And opening such a high school would necessarily mean that the School Board had accepted a particular understanding of the nature and morality of homosexuality -- and rejected another. By this I mean, if the Board agrees to fund a high school specifically intended for "LGBTQ" students, a school in which homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors are affirmed, the Board would had to have concluded that homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors are morally acceptable.
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Arrogant Advocates Pose as Educators
The complacency of Christians, as well as conservatives of other faiths and no faith, on the issue of homosexuality is not only unconscionable but dangerous. Massachusetts parents David and Tonia Parker have achieved some national attention as a result of their efforts to maintain some modicum of control over the ideas and images to which their elementary school children are exposed.
After their kindergartener was exposed to a picture book that portrayed homosexuality favorably, the Parkers requested merely to be notified when resources on homosexuality were going to be presented to their children in order that they could opt them out. The school refused.
Ultimately, the Parkers and another family, the Wirthlins, sued.
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Arne Duncan New Education Secretary
Obama searched the nation for the best candidate to serve as Secretary of Education, and, lo and behold, he found just the person right here in Illinois: Arne Duncan, current CEO of the Chicago Public School system.
To be fair, Duncan has earned praises from some quarters for his support of charter schools, his willingness to close failing schools, his support for greater student accountability, and his promotion of merit pay for teachers. Even conservative educational policy expert, Chester Finn, president of the non-profit Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, is pleased with Duncan's appointment.
That said, however, Duncan also recommended approval of the proposed Chicago Social Justice High School-Pride Campus that was committed to affirming, and therefore normalizing, homosexuality. This publicly subsidized high school, which the proposal designers have promised to reintroduce next year, would have had homosexuality-affirming curricula.
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Student Non-Discrimination Act
Many people who live in more conservative communities, for example, in the Midwest and South or rural communities, have been complacent regarding the presence of homosexuality-affirming resources and activities in their schools. They naively assume that their values and beliefs will be reflected in what takes place in their schools. They wrongly assume that resources and activities that espouse "progressive" ideas about the nature and morality of homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder will affect only urban and "progressive" communities.
But those naïve assumptions and subsequent complacency on the part of conservatives are ill-advised. There are many liberal, pro-homosexual activist organizations working at a fever pitch to use all public schools to undermine the truth about homosexuality. Then there are the departments and schools of education that train the nation's teachers to be "agents of change," who will use their power and position to shape the moral and political views of other people's children. And just recently a truly shocking piece of federal legislation was proposed by openly homosexual U.S. Representative Jared Polis (D-CO).
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Illinois Judge Blocks Parental-Notification Law
Lifesaving law has been repeatedly blocked for 24 years.
An activist judge in Illinois has ruled that teens can continue to get an abortion without telling their parents. Illinois is one of 35 states with parental-notification laws, but the 1984 law has never been enforced.
Joe Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League, called the inaction an injustice.
"We're talking here about parents knowing that their minor daughter is having dangerous surgery - sometimes lethal surgery," he said. "And the courts believe that the parents shouldn't even know about it."
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Family Advocates Mourn, Praise Rehnquist, Dissenter on Roe
SUMMARY: The chief justice's death Saturday has robbed the nation of a "judicial giant" who understood that a judge's role is to interpret law, not to make it. Now President Bush must fill a second vacancy on the high court -- and the left is already lobbing rhetorical grenades.
William Rehnquist, a man dubbed the "godfather of the constitutionalist movement" and the last remaining member of the Court that handed down Roe v. Wade in 1973, was one of two dissenters in the case. He called the majority decision, which legalized abortion on demand, "far more appropriate to a legislative judgment than to a judicial one."
"To reach its result," he added in his written dissent, "the Court necessarily has had to find within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment a right that was apparently completely unknown to the drafters of the Amendment."
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Sex-Ed Advocates Tell Congress to Abandon Abstinence Ed
(Federal Issue)
Democrats introduce a bill to cut funding for purity.
Comprehensive sex-education advocates were on Capitol Hill Tuesday to tell members of Congress their view of abstinence-until-marriage education.
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The Dark Side of PBS
(Part 1)
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has reminded us again of why we don't want our tax dollars going into this left-wing outfit. Its Frontline documentary about the events leading up to the war in Iraq was an absolute model of liberal media bias. From the absurd title, "The Dark Side," to the dour images of Vice President Cheney and the other villains of the piece, to the complete one-sided nature of the arguments and the cast of characters. It made the argument for an end to taxpayer funding of PBS.
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Naperville Schools Embrace Homosexual Agenda
IFI Joins Call For Boycott Against "Day of Silence"
IFI Media Watch
Those who believe public schools should teach children the basics might be concerned over what's been happening in the west Chicagoland suburb of Naperville during the last few years.
Some believe there is a political agenda being advanced in Naperville schools concerning the issue of homosexuality. Of course, these allegations aren't new. For the last 30 years, educators have apparently been using America's public education system to re-educate young people. Quite honestly, liberal social activists admit children must be taught to be more "tolerant" of alternative lifestyles. And what better way to change the thinking of an entire generation than by implementing that change to a captive audience of children who attend the nation's public schools.
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Pouch-schoolers be prepared: Horton's writers don't like you
Beware, home school moms: be notified beforehand that you've been typecast into the role of villainess in this weekend's children's smash hit "Horton Hears a Who?"
Settled down with our three and five year old grandsons Saturday afternoon, I was eager and prepared to point out the importance of a precious little speck floating throughout the movie's opening frames. It would be a perfect teaching moment to share with them Dr. Seuss' immortal, pro-life theme: "A person's a person, no matter how small."
But just minutes into the movie I gasped as one of the story's key characters was introduced to the story line. An arrogant, snooty, evil, uncaring, and yes, unbelieving female antagonist named Kangaroo is introduced, and her little one pokes his head out of his mommy's pouch. Kangaroo (with Carol Burnett's voice)sniffs and says, "He's pouch-schooled." Pouch-schooled...home-schooled.
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The Book-Banners Hollywood Ignores
Have you ever heard Hollywood liberals talk about suspected Islamic jihadists the way they talk about suspected Republican "book-banners?" The September 11 terrorist attacks didn't turn celebrity leftists into hawks. But the minute they started reading false rumors about Sarah Palin restricting unfettered access to "Daddy's Roommate" and "Heather Has Two Mommies" in her hometown library, Tinseltown's docile doves became militant warmongers.
Actor Matt Damon, parroting left-wing Internet lies about Sarah Palin censoring novels while mayor of Wasilla, took a defiant stand against the "terrifying possibility" of a McCain-Palin victory. "We can't have" book-banning, he inveighed.
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Sacrificing the Chief on the altar of political correctness
More than once during my tumultuous teen years, I thought about the difference between the world in which I was living and the world in which my mother grew up.
There were no police patrolling her hallways, no drug dealers-- teachers simply taught and children learned. As a student, she only had to fear a bad grade or perhaps the repercussions of her own bad behavior when she returned home.
The first 15 minutes of the evening news can once again send me pondering the differences between the generations-- which now seem as if they are light years apart, rather than just a few decades.
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Sex Education Will Be an Issue This November
Despite political pundits' disparaging comments that social issues will not be as important in 2008 as they were in the 2000 and 2004 elections, the Hard Left isn't buying it. They are pushing to eliminate any federal funds spent on abstinence education, making what kids are taught about sex an issue in the upcoming presidential and congressional races.
Last week, abstinence education opponent U.S. Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) called for Congressional hearings to discuss whether abstinence education is providing medically-sound information and statistically making a difference in our youth's decisions on whether or not to postpone sexual activity.
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"See You at the Pole" This Wednesday (Sept. 24th)
 Now in its 18th year, "See you at the Pole" is an annual event to "bring students to their school flagpoles to intercede for their leaders, schools, and families, asking God to bring moral and spiritual awakening to their campuses and countries." Students all across America gather at their school flagpoles to pray for our nation.
We're blessed that we live in a country in which we have the freedom to exercise our religious rights. We should take advantage of this freedom that so many in other countries don't enjoy. While Christians in other countries must practice their faith in hiding or risk imprisonment and even death, we can practice ours freely.
IFI wants to encourage you students to join together with other students who love Christ to pray for your friends, your classmates, your teachers, your families, our soldiers, our country, and those in other countries who suffer unimaginable persecution for Christ.
Remember Jesus' words:
"Where two or three are gathered together in my Name,
there am I in the midst of them."
(Matt.18:20)
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Are America's children under sexual assault in public schools?
It happens almost everyday. We hear disgusting stories about the sexual predation of children. Adults seek them out over the Internet. Some teachers now see their classrooms as a dating pool. And, no matter how bad the story gets, the next day's news shocks us even more.
However, in the past, we were talking about people coming after children from outside the system. These were primarily cases that could be explained away as human deprivity. But today, the stories making headlines regarding children and sex are, in many cases, a result of school policy.
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IFI News Release: IFI Announces Lora Sue Hauser as School Issues Advisor
GLEN ELLYN, Illinois--Illinois Family Institute Executive Director David Smith announced today the appointment of Deerfield family advocate Lora Sue Hauser as the IFI School Issues Advisor.
In her new position, Hauser said she plans to "advise, advocate, assist, educate, and encourage families and students who encounter a First Amendment, moral, or curricular problem in their public school."
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IFI News Release: Boycott the 'Day of Silence'
The Illinois Family Institute is part of the national pro-family NotOurKids.com coalition that is encouraging parents to keep their children home from school on Wednesday, April 18 -- to avoid being subjected to GLSEN's (The Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) homosexual "Day of Silence," in which students and some supportive faculty intentionally remain silent throughout the school day to protest (perceived and real) oppression of homosexuals.
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IFI E-Alert: Calls Needed to Oppose State Mandated Kindergarten - SB 409
Senate Bill 409, which will expand the state's control over your children for two more years, may be called for a vote by the full Senate next week. Your calls are needed to stop this harmful legislation before it passes to the House.
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IFI E-Alert: Give your opinion on Illinois' plan to screen children for mental health
Illinois is only days away from adopting a strategic plan that threatens parents' authority over the emotional, social and spiritual development of their children. This final plan calls for intervention, prevention and treatment of mental illness through screening of all Illinois children beginning prenatally.
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IFI E-Alert: Calls Needed to Stop 'Condom Training' Sex Ed Bill, SB 2267, Backed by IL-ACLU and Planned Parenthood!
The Illinois branches of Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are pushing a dangerous sex education bill, SB 2267, which could be called for vote any day in the Illinois Senate; please call or write your State Senator today to stop this 'Condom Training Sex Ed' bill that will give state funding to teach condom skills to Illinois teens!
Liberal-left groups are engaged in a massive lobbying push for this legislation: Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, is inviting its followers and unsuspecting students to join its Illinois Campaign for Responsible Sex Education for a lobby day in Springfield on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006. Help us balance their push with a responsible and pro-family message of "abstinence until marriage."
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IFI E-Alert: SB 715 -- Oppose Funding for More School Based Health Clinics
Urge your state senator to oppose SB 715 and the creation of 20 additional school based health clinics.
ACTION: Please call your State Representative today and ask him/her to vote against HB 715. Phone are the best way to communicate with your legislators. Calls are effective! Lawmakers keep track of how many calls they receive on given issues, and if they receive numerous calls about a bill, they will recognize that the bill is of concern to their constituents.
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IFI E-Alert: Boycott GLSEN's "Day of Silence"
It is that time of year again-- when minorities of activist students use our schools to promote homosexual lifestyles with the tacit or even direct approval of school administrators.
The Day of Silence is an annual event held to protest negative (perceived and real) thought and treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) students in our schools.
ACTION: Find out if your child's school is indeed participating in the Day of Silence, either actively or by sanctioning a "silent" student protest. Please report your findings to IFI by calling the office at 630-790-8370 or e-mailing us HERE.
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IFI E-Alert: Protect Parental Rights: Tell Your State Rep. to Vote 'NO' on SB 543 -- Mandatory Kindergarten
Calls to General Assembly needed to protect parental rights in Illinois.
ACTION: Please call your state representative and ask them to please vote against SB 543.
This bill would extend the truancy laws to those who are in kindergarten by defining "dropout" as including any child enrolled in kindergarten (ages 5 and 6) whose parents have removed him from school because they do not believe he is ready to attend. SB 543 interferes with a parent's right to make educational choices in the best interest of their child.
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IFI E-Alert: Back to School: Parents Take Notice!
Parents, grandparents, and concerned taxpayers take notice! As your children start off a new school year, take time to get to know what's going on in your local public schools.
Your local public schools are supposed to be places where young minds are taught the basics -- reading, writing, and arithmetic. But, increasingly, they are becoming establishments where liberal social engineering agendas (designed to desensitize our children to the truths found in traditional values) are being implemented.
Today, more than ever, parents must take to heart their God-given job to guide their child's education and moral training!
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IFI E-Alert: Maine South HS Freshman Biology Class Teaches "Birth Control Methods"
 Dear IFI Supporters,
Last April, I received an urgent call from a parent who found out that her 14-year-old freshman was being taught a complete unit on all human methods of birth control in Freshman biology at Maine South. This unit presented graphic descriptions and methods for every imaginable birth control device, including the withdrawal method, IUD's, diaphragms, and abortion.
The unit was taught in a co-ed class and required students to openly participate in discussion and do homework assignments.
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IFI E-Alert: Is the "Day of Silence" Agenda Coming to Your Kids' School?
This year's pro-homosexual Day of Silence -- sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network ("GLSEN") -- is scheduled for April 25th and will likely be coming to your child's public school.
TAKE ACTION: Take a stand against this type of political activism in our schools by keeping your children home from school on the Day of Silence (April 25, 2008). Join the many parents who have already determined that their children will not be exposed to this homosexual activism. CLICK HERE to add your name to the list of parents from your local school.
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IFI E-Alert: Back to School: Parents Take Notice!
Parents, grandparents, and concerned taxpayers take notice! As your children start off a new school year, take time to get to know what's going on in your local public schools.
Your local public schools are supposed to be places where young minds are taught the basics-reading, writing, and arithmetic -- and how to think critically.
But, increasingly, they are becoming institutions where liberal and even radical social agendas are implemented, designed to undermine the truths we teach our children at home and church.
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IFI E-Alert: Give your opinion on Illinois' plan to screen children for mental health
Illinois is only days away from adopting a strategic plan that threatens parents' authority over the emotional, social and spiritual development of their children. This final plan calls for intervention, prevention and treatment of mental illness through screening of all Illinois children beginning prenatally.
Read more...
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Illinois Family Institute
P.O. Box 88848
Carol Stream, Illinois 60188
Phone: (708) 781-9328
Fax: (708) 781-9376
Evil men don't understand the importance of justice,
but those who follow the Lord are much concerned about it.
~Proverbs 28:5
(NKJV)
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